ING declined to disclose the amount of the all-cash transaction. Officials from Morgan Stanley couldn't immediately comment on the deal.

"The Korean market is one of the largest asset management markets in Asia Pacific and also one of the fastest growing," Chris Ryan, chief executive of ING Investment Management in Asia, told Dow Jones Newswires.

Ryan said ING looked at other acquisition options in South Korea, but liked Landmark because of its strength in the domestic market. ING's strengths are in international markets "so it was just as good a fit as the acquisition we did in Taiwan last year," he said.

The deal also allows ING to tap Landmark's distribution network of leading commercial banks and brokerage firms.

ING will integrate Landmark with its wholly owned local unit, ING Investment Management Korea, instantly boosting its Korean asset management business into the top 10 asset management businesses in the country, with KRW13.2 trillion of assets under management.

The combined ING-Landmark business will be ING's sixth operation in South Korea. ING already has an existing life insurance business as well as real estate and wholesale banking operations.

"We believe the ING brand in Korea is very strong," Ryan said, adding that buying Landmark helps its Korean operation grow faster than it could otherwise.

"A good firm was available to us," he said. Going it alone "would take us several years to get to where we wanted to be," he said, whereas acquiring Landmark was "a way for us to get there quickly."

The deal is subject to regulatory approvals. Ryan said he expects the deal to close before the end of the year.

ING Investment Management made an acquisition in Taiwan last year that transformed it into the largest asset management company on the island. Ryan said his goal is to turn ING into one of the top five asset managers in Korea.

Global asset managers, such as Goldman Sachs Group Inc., UBS AG, BlackRock Merrill Lynch Investment Managers and Lazard Ltd., have been attracted to South Korea by forecasts of double-digit growth in the local asset management market. Underpinning the forecasts of strong growth are a wealthy population with an increasing appetite for asset investment, and a compulsory corporate pension program to be implemented in 2010.

Landmark is the 12th largest asset manager in South Korea with approximately KRW8.6 trillion in assets under management as of end-May.

In 2002, Morgan Stanley bought into Landmark through its private-equity arm, LM Investment Management Holdings AB, for $47.6 million, and it owns an 87.6% stake. Kyobo Life Insurance Co. of South Korea and Landmark's chief executive own the rest of the shares in Landmark.

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